Nothing Like a Reformed Liberal

I suppose I’d half expected a female Dan Quayle, the unknown sprung upon us as George H.W. Bush’s unexpected choice (presumably to appeal to younger voters) in 1988. But the moment she strode on stage, accompanied by her fisherman/oil worker husband and a gaggle of kids with strange names, it was apparent that she was different. No deer in the headlights, this was obviously a confident woman.

More to the point, there’s what she is confident—and forceful—about: fighting for energy independence and against earmarks; cutting property taxes and otherwise taking on even those special interests which generally have a hold on her own party. Then there was the personal stuff: the son in the army, en route to Iraq; the Down’s Syndrome child who has so clearly enriched her family’s life; her history as a high school basketball star, including, (as we later learned) the time she played in a championship game, Kerri Strug-like, with a fractured ankle.

If, as one commentator observed, McCain’s pick was a classic fighter pilot’s move, as risky as it was daring, the plain-spoken, gun-toting Palin is the kind of strong and independent woman who, a few short generations back, helped conquer the West. Lots of liberal women politicians call themselves strong and independent—and spend their careers relentlessly working for programs that increase people’s dependence on government. Palin could hardly be more different. She is the anti-Barbara Boxer.

Palin didn’t back McCain in the primary. Some say she stayed neutral in Alaska’s January primary, perhaps on account of McCain’s opposition to drilling in ANWR. Others might claim she made an endorsement of Obama. Here I will let you decide

Before she was running with McCain, she started running away from him
Sarah Palin the governor of Alaska and now the Republican candidate for Vice-President of the United States thought it was pretty neat that Barack Obama was edging ahead of John McCain in her usually solidly red state. After all, she said, Obama's campaign was using the same sort of language that she had in her gubernatorial race. "The theme of our campaign was 'new energy,' " she said recently. "It was no more status quo, no more politics as usual, it was all about change. So then to see that Obama--literally, part of his campaign uses those themes, even, new energy, change, all that, I think, O.K., well, we were a little bit ahead on that." She also noted, "Something's kind of changing here in Alaska, too, for being such a red state on the Presidential level. Obama's doing just fine in polls up here, which is kind of wigging people out, because they're saying, 'This hasn't happened for decades that in polls the D' "--the Democratic candidate--" 'is doing just fine.' To me, that's indicative, too. It's the no-more-status-quo, it's change." [hat tip to the New Yorker for that gem]

Now you might say well, Biden said things against Obama before he became a running mate. The difference is, they were actually competing against one another. Palin had nothing to gain politically when she made the above statements. It appears she was being honest. Heck, Romney was being mentioned as a possible VP for McCain, I got tons of insults those to had against one another, so this is totally different.

How about her performance as an executive? Well, you can tell she is a Republican. Massive debt is their calling card. Sarah Palin who portrays herself as a fiscal conservative, racked up nearly $20 million in long-term debt as mayor of the tiny town of Wasilla — that amounts to $3,000 per resident. There goes the label fiscal conservative, unless your for massive debt. [hat tip to Politco]

Earmark reform and waste in government? Excuse me while I laugh at that one. [Thanks Think Progress for this gem]

During the unveiling of his running mate, Sarah Palin, John McCain tried to cast her as a “reformer” and “fiscal conservative.” She boldly claimed that with regard to Ted Stevens’s infamous "Bridge to Nowhere," she told Congress, "Thanks, but no thanks". She stated:

"I championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress — I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ on that bridge to nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, I said we’d build it ourselves."

It appears, however, that Palin is lying. As Bradford Plumer first noted, the Anchorage Daily News interviewed Palin during her 2006 campaign for governor. At the time, federal funding for the bridge had been stripped by Congress. They asked if she was in favor of continuing state funding for the project. "Yes," she responded, noting specifically her desire to renew Congressional support:

"Yes. I would like to see Alaska’s infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now–while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."

That assistance never materialized. When she finally canceled the $400 million project, Palin lamented the fact that Congress was not more forthcoming with federal funding. She said in a statement at the time:

"Despite the work of our congressional delegation, we are about $329 million short of full funding for the bridge project, and it’s clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island."

Palin’s desire to have federal funding directed toward pet projects in Alaska, however, did not diminish. As recently as March 2008 — around the time she first met McCain, her special counsel, John Katz, wrote in the Juneau Empire that despite recognizing increased scrutiny of such spending, Palin was not "not abandoning earmarks altogether." While McCain expressed high-profile disdain for earmarks, the Palin administration held that:

"Earmarks are not bad in themselves. In fact, they represent a legitimate exercise of Congress’ constitutional power to amend the budget proposed by the president."

In favor of protecting the environment and energy independence? Your joking, right? As governor, Palin vetoed wind power and clean coal projects, including a 50-megawatt wind farm on Fire Island and a clean coal facility in Healy that had been mired in a dispute between local and state governments.